Stellar Group Inc. is building the three-story building on the north end of the campus at a construction cost of $20 million. 

A growing number of food and beverage processing facilities are investing in robotics and automation, as the technology continues to advance and costs continue to normalize. These tools can be a game-changer for many businesses, offering benefits such as reduced operating costs, upped throughput and increased food and worker safety.

Snack and bakery production use IoT for food safety, as well as inspection and detection.

This $80-million fast-track expansion of a 20-year-old building was completed in 11 months, allowing the ice cream facility to increase production by up to 44%. Using a multiprime construction approach, seven contractors worked simultaneously on subprojects to expand eight areas of the manufacturing plant while keeping the existing facility in full production. 

Sanitation, automation, operational visibility and existing infrastructure are just a few of the factors that must be addressed when conducting a successful plant expansion project.

Almark Foods opened a 115,000 ft² production facility in Yuma, Ariz. The plant, which produces peeled, hard-boiled eggs, was designed and constructed by Stellar, a fully integrated design-build firm.

Drone technology is helping redefine the way we design, construct and maintain buildings. Drones do more than just take photos — they can benefit both the builder and owner by improving design accuracy, overall quality and long-term maintenance.

It’s an exciting and interesting time for both the food manufacturing and construction industries. Thanks to recent tax reform, a healthy economy and other factors, capital spending is up, and the industrial/commercial construction industry is bigger than it has been in decades. This trend is expected to continue, with U.S. construction projected to grow by 4.5 percent over the next several years.

United States Cold Storage has opened a $35 million food distribution facility in Laredo, Texas. Stellar, a fully integrated firm focused on design, engineering, construction and mechanical services worldwide, designed and built the 232,366-sq-ft warehouse.

Construction of facility began in November 2007. The designers, engineers and project managers for the project was Stellar Construction and Engineering, which won an Excellence in Construction award for the building from the Florida First Coast Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors.

Dakota Provisions is a state-of-the-art turkey processing facility set up by Dakota Turkey Growers, a major farmers’ cooperative of 44 independent Hutterite (a religious group similar to the Amish who have adopted modern manufacturing as a way to survive) turkey farmers in North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota, USA. It is the first full-line turkey facility to be built in the US since the late 1980s.

We live in a world where we have unprecedented access to a wide variety of data — and food and beverage plants are no exception. Owners increasingly want to know what’s going on in their facilities from water and electricity consumption to other processing and mechanical data.

Business owners are increasingly discovering the benefits of working with design-build firms, according to a comprehensive new study on the design-build market released by FMI Corporation (FMI). The study found design-build now makes up almost half of all construction projects nationwide, and market share is expected to keep growing over the next three years.

A Jacksonville University dormitory is about to receive a big facelift.

Creating and maintaining a strong infrastructure maintenance plan helps prevent food safety risks and saves money.